The present invention relates to a system which operates and manages a business process, etc.
A technique which makes it possible to execute a large amount of process equal to or more than one high execution server by executing the load distribution between a plurality of servers is in the process of being developed. For example, in U.S. Patent Application Publication US 2003/0069972 A1, a grid technique which enhances the availability of the resources by dynamically changing the number of the servers within a load distribution cluster and utilizing the idle resources efficiently is disclosed.
On the other hand, a technique which constructs a system which executes a business process by flexibly combining groups of services which the existing software provide so as to quickly correspond to the change of the business is also in the process of being developed. For example, in U.S. Patent Application Publication US 2005/0102674 A1, a technique to make it easy to operate a system which executes a business process like this is disclosed.
The service here means a function which an application which runs on a computer provides. Also, many of the services are installed as an application which can be used using a standard interface. For example, it can be considered a stock inquiry service which has a function that when a user transmits a request to obtain a stock amount adding a product name and a store name, it returns the stock amount of the designated product in the designated store as a response.
Also, the business process is one of the entities which call the above-mentioned service. For example, when there are three services of an order reception service, a stock inquiry service, and a shipping service which individually exist, a process which executes a series of processes which process an order combining the services by defining a calling order of these, etc. is called a business process. Many of the business processes are installed as an application which can be used using a standard interface in the same way as the service. Also, as a representation of a business process definition language which defines the above-mentioned calling order of services, etc., there is BPEL (Business Process Execution Language), and it is in the process of being standardized and is widely noticed.
It can be considered to construct a business system which efficiently utilizes the resources and can quickly correspond to the change of the business by combining the grid technique and the technique which executes the business process which have been explained above.